ACLU And Kobach Head To Court Over Voter Citizenship Law

The American Civil Liberties Union and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach are heading to court again in their battle over Kobach’s attempts to enforce a proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters.

The ACLU hopes a Shawnee County judge will use Friday’s hearing to review its request for a temporary injunction to keep Kobach from imposing a new policy for the state’s Aug. 5 primary elections.

Kobach has said that Kansas residents who register with a national form will be allowed to complete full ballots, but only their votes in congressional races will be counted.

The national registration form does not require voters to submit documentation of their U.S. citizenship. The state's registration form does.

Related Content

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers are urging a federal appeals court to overturn a decision by U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren. They say it will limit the authority of Congress to regulate federal elections.

They made a friend-of-the-court filing last week at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...in a lawsuit filed by Kansas and Arizona to force federal elections officials to let those states impose their proof-of-citizenship requirements on federal voter registration forms used by residents of their states.

Kansas and Arizona say they have a sovereign right to require proof of citizenship for voting residents of their states, even for federal elections.

The two states urged the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to lift the emergency stay it issued last week.

The appeals court had halted a ruling from U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren, whose ruling required the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to modify its federal voter registration form for Kansas and Arizona residents.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Wichita refused stay his order for federal election officials to immediately enforce Kansas and Arizona laws requiring new voters to document their U.S. citizenship.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren denied the requests from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and voting rights groups to stay his ruling while the case goes to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Melgren ordered the commission to proceed without delay on his March directive to immediately modify its national voter registration form.